It's a good thing Christian Behrens has a keenly developed sense of delayed gratification. Otherwise, he might start to wonder if this basketball thing is really worth it.

A reserve forward for Cal, the redshirt sophomore's career has been defined more by knee injuries than anything he has done on the court.

He tore his left ACL as a junior in high school in Maple Valley, Wash., sustained a partial tear of the same ligament as a Cal freshman, and a full tear of the darned thing again the day after Christmas in 2012. He ended up redshirting last season.

Before this season started, Behrens had appeared in 16 games over two seasons for the Bears and scored a total of 15 points.

"I've been discouraged at times. I've been through so much stuff," he said. "I've always had it in me to be optimistic, to think the grass is greener on the other side. I think it's always helped me."

Although he continues to wear a brace on his left knee, Behrens is finally starting to contribute meaningful minutes now that his knee is sound. He's averaging 2.1 points and 2.7 rebounds in 11 minutes per game for the Bears (14-4), who look to keep their Pac-12 record (5-0) perfect in Wednesday night's game against USC at the Galen Center.

"It's definitely nice to be out there helping my team," he said. "There's no better feeling in the world than being out there and contributing to our success."

At 6-foot-9, Behrens is helping his team mostly at the '4' position on the front line, scrapping for rebounds and scoring when the opportunity presents itself.

"Christian has actually gotten better at finishing around the basket," head coach Mike Montgomery said. "Other than Kam (7-foot Kameron Rooks), we don't have another (reserve) big guy. Christian is 6-9. He gives us some movement and kind of knows where he belongs."

As with any athlete returning from major knee surgery, Behrens had to arrive at a point at which he was confident in the joint so he could play effectively. That's where he is now.

"I'm pretty confident out there to do what the team needs me to do," Behrens said. "My knee was feeling good enough to play with confidence and strength. It got to the point where I was being consistent, but I wasn't seeing time on the court."

That was earlier in the season, when Behrens was languishing far down on the bench. With his knee feeling better, he said, "I wanted to reach out to Coach that I was ready."

Ever pragmatic, Montgomery said that was fine - now go out and prove it. His program at Cal is essentially a meritocracy and players get what they earn. Behrens is finally earning playing time in his third season, one of gratification delayed.